CAHPS Hospice Survey Provider Preview Reports are Now Available (06/03/2020)

CAHPS Hospice Survey Public Report Provider Preview Reports for the reporting period of fourth quarter of 2017 through the third quarter of 2019 (10/1/2017 – 9/30/2019) are now available. Hospice Provider Preview Reports can be accessed via the Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) application. The reports have been updated to include Top-, Middle-, and Bottom- box scores. Hospice providers have 30-days to review their CAHPS results (May 28, 2020 through June 29, 2020) prior to the August 2020 Hospice Compare site refresh, during which this data will be publicly displayed.

CMS recognizes that the COVID-19 outbreak may impact your survey operations. If you intend to request approval to conduct survey operations from a remote location (other than your place of business), please complete and submit an Exception Request Form online via the CAHPS Hospice Survey Web site (www.hospicecahpssurvey.org). Please remember, survey vendors should take necessary steps to protect staff’s personal health and safety.

Please contact CAHPS Hospice Survey Technical Assistance at hospicecahpssurvey@hsag.com should you have questions regarding this information.

CY 2020 Participation Exemption for Size Form Now Available (01/03/2020)

The Participation Exemption for Size Form for the calendar year (CY) 2020 CAHPS Hospice Survey data collection and reporting requirements is available to complete and submit on the CAHPS Hospice Survey Web site (www.hospicecahpssurvey.org). Hospices that served fewer than 50 survey-eligible decedents/caregivers in CY 2019 (January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019 [or from assignment of CCN]) can apply for an exemption from participation in the CAHPS Hospice Survey for CY 2020.

To view or complete the 2020 Participation Exemption for Size Form, please click on the left hand Participation Exemption for Size navigation button. The Participation Exemption for Size Form will be available to complete and submit online until December 31, 2020.

Please note, exemptions on the basis of size are active for one year only. If a hospice continues to meet the eligibility requirements for this exemption in subsequent years, the organization will need to again request the exemption.

If a hospice has questions regarding the Participation Exemption for Size process or how to complete the Participation Exemption for Size Form, please contact the CAHPS Hospice Survey Project Team: hospicecahpssurvey@hsag.com or 1-844-472-4621.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is granting exceptions[1] under certain Medicare quality reporting and value-based purchasing programs to hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, hospices, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, renal dialysis facilities, long-term care hospitals, and ambulatory surgical centers, as well as Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)eligible clinicians, located in areas affected by Tropical Storm/Hurricane Barry due to the devastating impact of the storm. These healthcare providers and suppliers will be granted exceptions if they are located in one of the Louisiana parishes listed below, all of which have been designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as an emergency disaster parish.

The scope and duration of the exception under each Medicare quality reporting program and value-based purchasing program is described below. CMS is granting exceptions to assist these providers while they direct their resources toward caring for their patients and repairing structural damages to facilities.

CMS is closely monitoring the situation for future potential widespread catastrophic events, and will update exception lists soon after any events occur in the future.

The affected parishes designated by FEMA under the Tropical Storm Barry Emergency Declaration (EM-3416) and Hurricane Barry Major Disaster Declaration (DR-4458) for Louisiana, as of the date of this communication, are as follows:

The healthcare providers located outside of the parishes listed above are not covered by this communication but may request an exception to the reporting requirements under one or more Medicare quality reporting or value-based purchasing programs it participates in using the applicable extraordinary circumstances exception procedure for the respective program(s). CMS will assess and decide upon each extraordinary circumstances exception request on a case-by-case basis.

If FEMA expands the current emergency disaster declaration for Tropical Storm/Hurricane Barry to include additional parishes, CMS will update this communication to reflect the expanded list of applicable parishes for which healthcare providers would be eligible to receive an exception without submitting a request. In addition, CMS will continue to monitor the situation and adjust exempted reporting periods and submission deadlines accordingly.

CMS is granting an exception to all Quality Reporting Program (QRP) reporting requirements, including the reporting of data on measures and any other data requested by CMS for the post-acute care (PAC) quality reporting programs for calendar year 2019 for the following quarters specific to each program:

Hospices – Hospice QRP Q3, (July 1, 2019-September 30, 2019)

PAC QRP Extraordinary Circumstances Exception Request Information

For further information about exceptions, view the program-specific web page:

[1] The terminology “exception” is used as a general term intended for ease of reference, to collectively refer to policies established under separate programs, and may not be consistent with the specific terminology established under each individual program.

Updates to the document for calculating CAHPS Hospice Survey Top-, Middle-, and Bottom-Box Scores have been posted on the Scoring and Analysis page. To view or download this document, please click on the left hand Scoring and Analysis navigation button.